Friday 29th of March 2024

chinese diplomats leaked an extraordinary list of grievances with australia...

china

China has reiterated its claim that the Morrison Government is solely to blame for deteriorating relations between Beijing and Canberra, while scolding Australia and its Five Eyes intelligence partners for criticism over the erosion of democratic norms in Hong Kong.

 

Key points:
  • Chinese diplomats leaked an extraordinary list of grievances with Australia this week
  • The Federal Government has rebutted Beijing's claim that Australia is solely to blame for worsening ties
  • China has reacted angrily to Australia's comments on Hong Kong and a new defence pact with Japan

 

"We have said many times that the root cause for the deteriorating China-Australia relations is Australia's repeated wrong acts and remarks on issues concerning China's core interests," said foreign affairs ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian during a routine press conference on Thursday.

Chinese diplomats in Canberra gave a list of 14 grievances to Nine newspapers this week.

The document cited Australia's calls for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, speaking out on widespread allegations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, and the introduction of foreign interference laws.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-20/china-blames-confrontational-australian-government-for-spat/12902774

coal ships out in the cold...

More than 60 ships carrying Australian coal have been stranded at sea – some for months – while waiting to enter Chinese ports, according to analysts, with the Morrison government being urged to clarify the long delays.

Dozens of vessels are being kept waiting, according to the global commodity and energy price reporting agency Argus, which has been tracking the situation.

 

An Argus representative told Guardian Australia some of those vessels left Australia as long ago as May and many had been waiting in Chinese waters since September.

Beijing appeared to be “singling out Australian coking coal imports”, Argus said, with 86% of the coking coal waiting outside the Chinese ports of Jingtang and Caofeidian coming from Australia.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/25/more-than-60-australian-coal-carrying-ships-kept-waiting-to-unload-off-ports-in-china

and a barney about barley...

As tension grows over Beijing's massive tariffs on Australian wine, the Federal Government is continuing with plans to take China to the World Trade Organization over barley exports.

In May, China began threatening to slap the tariffs on the barley industry, as a result of "an ongoing anti-dumping and countervailing duties investigation".

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has detailed appeals the Government has made through China's domestic processes to overturn the decision and limit the impact on the $1.5 billion barley trade with China.

"We sought to engage in good faith," Senator Birmingham told the Insiders program this morning.

"We are disappointed that all the evidence, as compelling as we are confident it is, was rejected by the Chinese authorities and that appeal was unsuccessful."

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-29/australia-to-escalate-action-against-china-wto-barley-tariffs/12932240

 

Meanwhile:

 

Listen closely: The sound we heard this week was the penny dropping.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Australia's top diplomat, Frances Adamson, have both set out a vision for Australia that accepts the old order is changing.

In a speech to a British think tank, Morrison sent a message to China that Australia will not be America's "deputy sheriff" and Canberra will not be making decisions based on a choice between Washington and Beijing.

Meanwhile, Adamson candidly argued that Australia "is not about imposing our views on others", adding that "an era within which we felt comfortable has passed".

She isn't telling us anything we shouldn't already have known, but when it comes to China, Australia has been a slow learner. 

Our strategy has been caught between what former prime minister Tony Abbott once described as a mixture of "fear and greed".

The messaging has at times been cringe-inducing. When I lived in China, I lost count of the number of times I heard visiting politicians or business leaders talk about "exploiting" the relationship. We got rich and we assumed China would become just like us.



Read more:


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-29/morrisons-vision-australia-changing-the-order-china/12926904

 

russia to replace australia...


Russia’s coal miners could boost exports to China, the world’s number one energy consumer, after Beijing slapped tariffs on Australian imports amid a growing trade rift.

Chinese authorities completely halted supplies of coal from Australia in late 2020 after Canberra voiced its support for an international inquiry into China’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

But with China’s appetite for energy imports steadily increasing, Russia is looking to fill the void by boosting coal exports to its neighbor.

“As imports of coal from Australia to China are expected to decline, Russia has a chance to replace at least part of it with its own coal,” said TS Lombard analyst Madina Khrustaleva, as quoted by SCMP, a Hong Kong-based English-language news outlet.

The expert noted that Russia has several large coal deposits ready to begin supplying China, with transport being the only hurdle.

Mutual trade between Russia and China has been growing since 2014, and China has since become Russia’s biggest trade partner.

“Russia is clearly in pole position to substitute imports from Australia. The increase in oil prices is also helping Russia, so all in all there are really tailwinds for Russia,” Alicia García-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at Natixis, told the media.

Over the past year, a political rift between China and Australia has spilled over into the economic world. Chinese authorities applied import duties on a wide range of Australian produce, including wine, lobster, meat, barley, timber, and coal. Canberra hit back with tariffs on Chinese aluminum, paper, and steel.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called for boosting coal exports to Asia by at least 30 percent over the next three years. Putin also approved financing for expanding the country’s rail routes for transporting coal to the continent from the Kuzbass region, Russia’s key mining area.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/business/517791-russia-china-australia-coal/

 

Global warming, here we come...

 

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julian